CANADA: Global Warming Hits Elderly Unable to Pay for Heating, Airconditioning

Changes may cause 150,000 deaths a year, says UN Conference MONTREAL (The Gazette), December 2, 2005: The day after Montreal hit a record high of 17.7 degrees Celsius, health and environmental experts warned that climate variations can lead to everything from heart attacks and diarrhea to skin cancer and the spread of West Nile virus. But the burden of climate change-related problems falls mainly on the shoulders of people in developing countries, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, of the World Health Organization, said yesterday at the United Nations World Climate Change Conference. "The risks now and in the future are loaded on the poorest populations," he noted in a panel discussion on assessing and managing the health risks of severe climate change. "The failure to stabilize climate may already be causing 150,000 deaths per year, and that can be expected to double by 2020," Campbell-Lendrum said. The United States is the largest producer of greenhouse gases, yet it is Africa and India that are most likely to suffer from climate-related problems, like malaria and malnutrition, panel keynote speaker Jonathan Patz said. Climate change represents an enormous global ethical dilemma for developed countries, said Patz, associate professor at the Centre for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "The countries and populations least responsible for causing global warming are most vulnerable to adverse health and societal impacts," Patz said at the panel event, sponsored by Health Canada and the WHO. "Depending on where you live and your economic capacity, you are more or less affected by climactic events." Patz noted the 2003 heat wave in Europe that caused as many as 45,000 deaths hit hardest among the elderly and the poor, many of them alone and living in poorly ventilated buildings. It was the alarming death toll during that heat wave - about 15,000 deaths in France alone - that helped kick-start a study of Quebec attitudes to climate-change risks and solutions. "That (heat wave) shocked us in Quebec," said Pierre Gosselin, medical consultant with the Institut national de sante publique du Quebec. "People said, 'A catastrophe like that could happen here.' " Quebec could be facing more frequent extreme weather, Gosselin said, citing severe storms, floods, heat waves and cold spells. While more heat might seem welcome, it can help propagate insect-borne diseases, like West Nile and Lyme, and spread bacteria at backyard barbecues, he said. The public health institute has been polling Quebecers on their attitudes to climate change risks and what they are doing to improve the quality of life. "From our preliminary analysis, people are ready to act," Gosselin said. "It's governments that are falling behind." Researchers polled 5,100 residents across Quebec this spring and fall. Nearly 90 per cent of respondents blamed human factors for climate change. Among the solutions proposed to mitigate the problem: - Install air conditioning in seniors' homes and hospitals. - Encourage public transit use, especially in cities. - Enforce stricter car inspection and maintenance standards. - Improve home insulation. - Prohibit housing construction in flood zones. Researchers also polled 150 municipal and health-care managers in Quebec about climate-change risks and action plans. The study, conducted in conjunction with Health Canada, the Quebec Health Department and Ouranos, a non-profit research and development consortium studying climate change, is to be made public in spring 2006, Gosselin said. By Ann Carroll The Montreal Gazette acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com © The Gazette (Montreal) 2005